When Jyothy Labs wanted to launch a round variant of its Exo dishwash bar, it decided to broadcast it on Brand Power, an online advertising platform owned by the Buchanan Group.
“We thought it was a cost-effective model as it was almost 25 per cent of the cost of a regular TVC and would be treated as an add-on communication to our regular TVCs,” said a company official.
Brand Power is one of the advertising vehicles in the armoury of the Australia-based Buchanan Group. It claims to offer solutions to companies looking for “ways to inform, explain, educate and to generate sales results.” Basically, it uses a no-frills, extended format ‘infomercial,' commercial information which is presented plainly, without glamorous models or glitzy sets.
Over the last 22 years, the company claims, it has developed an advertising process that relies on delivering to consumers factual and relevant information about products without affecting the brand equity or creative messages, and complements the brand's regular advertising. These are delivered as a finished product to clients who can choose where and when to air them, or be featured on Buchanan's own ‘branded' programmes such as Brand Power.
Mr Sanjeev Singhai, Business Director- Indian Subcontinent, Buchanan Group says, “Today our FMCG clients want to spend less on mainline advertising to protect their margins. As our ads are made with smaller budgets and appear less frequently, clients are looking at more cost-effective ads through our branded advertising templates.”
According to him, these ads could work out to be at least 40 per cent cheaper than the normal creative ads made by regular advertising agencies.
For instance, since 2007, Buchanan claims FMCG players such as Hindustan Unilever have released 24 such ads across 16 brands. For instance, an ad for Bru Coffee where the aim was to highlight the usefulness of sachets as coffee stored in big jars would not retain its freshness and flavour.
Mr Singhai says MNCs such as Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Cadbury and Pepsico, as well as Indian companies such as ITC, Paras Pharma and Cavin Kare have followed different strategies using the platform.
“These FMCG clients have used our advertising platforms to explain complicated product stories, comparisons with other products, communicate pack changes, address regional nuances,” he explains.
Buchanan Group has been present in India since 2007 and has 15 FMCG clients.
It uses branded TV platforms or templates such as Brand Power, Zoot Review, Medifact and 606 Product Networker for its ads.